In this blog we will be looking at how to set up and work with the weight based shipping module. This module is very useful for companies which have to use private couriers and the weight of the products has a dramatic effect on the final shipping cost. It’s not too tricky to set up and to use so simply follow the following steps.
Getting Your New Weight Based Shipping Ranges
If you haven’t already, sit down and work out what you want the price of shipping to be for your products and at what level does it stop. I will draw up an example list below to use in this blog:
- Up to 5kg – £10.00
- 5kg to 15kg – £18.00
- 15kg to 30kg – £30.00
- More than 30kg – £45.00
Pretty simple list there and you will probably have your own in mind anyway so now we need to login to the admin area of the OpenCart dashboard and then hover over the “Extensions” tab and then click on the “Shipping” link that drops down.
The OpenCart Weight Based Shipping option will be towards the bottom, if you haven’t already, click the install link on the right hand side to start setting up the weight price ranges (if you already installed it then just click on the “Edit” link on the right hand side).
Setting The Weight Based Shipping Module Options
You will be taken to the options page where you set all the options, the first tab is self-explanatory; just choose the Tax Class, whether it is enabled or not and the Sort Order to choose how far down the options list the Weight Based Shipping shows. Clicking on the left hand tabs running down the side of the box will take you to the options where you set the actual weights and prices.
On the next options box you will see a text area with the title “Rates“. All you need to do is put your prices in the right format and paste them in there. You will need to show your weight ranges as follows:
(Minimum Weight To Trigger Price Change):(New Weight Price),
so, for the prices I have set above I would set the rates as follows:
5:10.00, 15:18.00, 30:30.00, 99999999:45.00
Easy right? You’re probably wondering why I have put in the ridiculously high weight value on the last price. This is because OpenCart does not allow an “anything above this weight” option so we put in a 99999 weight value in order to make sure that they pay the final price bracket if their shopping cart is heavy enough.
Easy peasy right? I will be adding to this blog post with updates on advanced options and editing the core system but right now I’m making sure that it works properly so keep an eye open! As always, feel free to leave me a comment or email me!